BOSGuide

Where To Eat And Drink In The North End

The 14 best bars and restaurants in the North End.
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If you took every restaurant in the North End and lined them up side by side, you’d probably end up in the parking lot of a Chili’s at the Northgate Mall in Decatur, Illinois. While that would be great for people in Decatur who’ve probably been looking for some decent puttanesca, it’s a little overwhelming for people who actually live in Boston to decide where to eat when they’re in the neighborhood. When it comes to the North End’s abundance of tourist-choked restaurants, it takes a lot of work to figure out which spots are actually good, versus which spots you need to avoid like the tourists in line who will ask you to pronounce Worcester like it’s some kind of party trick.

That’s why we did the work for you.

Here are 14 spots in the North End you can trust. Some of them are among the very best restaurants in the city, while others would merely be the best in Decatur, Il, but all of them are very good.

The Spots

Seafood

North End

$$$$Perfect For:Dinner with the ParentsImpressing Out of TownersLunchUnique Dining Experience
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If you’re automatically skeptical of all of the North End restaurants that have lines of tourists out the door every night, good - you’re right to keep your guard up about places that don’t have to try too hard to get people in. But Neptune is a major exception. It’s one of the best oyster bars in the city with the best oyster bars in the country, and it’s worth waiting out in the cold for. The johnnycake with smoked bluefish is our favorite dish, but it’s all good.


We’ve always suspected that eating in the kitchen with the chefs after a restaurant closes for the night would be one of the coolest dining experiences you could have. A trip to The Daily Catch on Hanover confirms it, because this place feels less like a restaurant and more like a kitchen with a few tables. The wine comes in plastic cups, the chairs are uncomfortably shoved up against burners and prep surfaces, and the food is so good that it tastes like a meal a great kitchen staff would make for themselves. The menu here consists almost entirely of seafood centric pasta dishes, and while everything they do with squid is great, the aglio olio (a squid bolognese, essentially) is particularly phenomenal.


They’ve been making pizza at the original Regina’s on Thatcher Street since Calvin Coolidge was president. For those of you who failed history, that was a really long time ago. As soon as you walk in the door here, you know you’re going to get something good, and that’s primarily because the whole place is so greasy you feel like your elbow might pop a hole through the table. If you’re not coming here before every single Celtics or Bruins game for a giambotta pie and a pitcher of beer, you’re doing it wrong.


photo credit: Natalie Schaefer

Prezza is a white-tablecloth, candle-lit restaurant on Fleet Street that provides the best fine-dining experience in the North End. When you get there, you might initially wonder why they decided to nearly ruin the atmosphere with a TV above the bar, but then you probably won’t care when the ricotta ravioli with roasted plum tomato, sausage, black olives, and parmesan comes.


If you live in the North End, Monica’s should be the place you hit up on a Tuesday night after a bad day at work when you just need a glass of red and a bowl of bolognese. It’s a tiny, brick-walled spot with pop art hanging above the tables and a menu that hits on just about everything. It’s also got a full liquor license, something that can be surprisingly hard to find in the North End, and which you’ll need after those really bad days at work.


Based on looks alone, Antico Forno appears to be one of those kitschy North End spots that caters to tourists and people who expect their Italian restaurants to come with unlimited breadsticks. But don’t be fooled by the hokey rustic decor and traditional red sauce menu - the brick oven they use for just about every dish really does bring their pastas up a notch and makes it a great place to hide with wine during a snowstorm.


$$$$Perfect For:Casual Weeknight Dinner
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If you’re looking for a pizza with a nicely charred, almost perfectly puffed crust, Locale is your spot. If you’re need a place that has a reliably great craft beer selection in a neighborhood where almost every other restaurant focuses on wine (but that also has good wine, too), Locale’s got you covered there, too. And if you want a spot that’s on Hanover but down towards the harbor where the tourists don’t usually go, then Locale’s here for you. If you’re still looking for more, then we need to talk about how you live your life because you’re kinda being difficult.


Sometimes it seems like every suburban family celebrating a birthday from Framingham to Canton is inside of Mamma Maria, but it’s hard to blame them. This white-tablecloth spot in a multi-level brownstone overlooking North Square gives you old North End romance without the kitsch, along with a menu that, with things like clam and bay scallop pasta, is definitely a step above most of the neighborhood’s lazier red sauce joints.


Aqua Pazza is one of the newest restaurants in the North End, and in a neighborhood where every other storefront seems to have the word “institution” stenciled on the door, new is good. There are far worse ways to start a night than by sitting at the bar here with a house Negroni and something from their extensive crudo selection.


With slices roughly the size of a roadmap (remember roadmaps?) this slice joint on Salem is the neighborhood’s best drunk pizza spot. Thankfully, the pizza is also plenty good (if overwhelming) when you’re sober, too.


Carmelina’s is tiny and right smack in the middle of Hanover, so it can be hard to get in at times, but it’s worth the hassle during the summer if you can snag one of the tables along the sidewalk. Otherwise, grab a seat at the small bar fronting the open kitchen, because Carmelina’s features one of the better red sauce menus in the neighborhood and almost always has a fun crowd in the brick-walled dining room. Get the frutti di mare and you won’t need to eat for a couple of days.


Galleria Umberto opens at 10:45am and closes when they run out of pizza, which is usually about three hours later. So unless you work nearby, you’re out of luck. If you do manage to get in there for lunch, though, you’re in for some of the best arancini and Sicilian style pizza in the city.


Parla is probably the coolest restaurant in a neighborhood that doesn’t have a lot of places you’d use that adjective for. That’s what you get when you combine a menu that includes a picture of Biggie Smalls, really good cocktails, and copper decor that will make you want to call the bartender “barkeep.” We suggest sticking with the bites and small plates.


Corner Cafe is really the only true bar in the entire North End, but if you’re serious about your drinking, it’s the only one you need. This is a lovely little dive with Bruins jerseys on the wall, bags of chips behind the bar, and (usually) a handful of people playing Keno at two in the afternoon. It’s the perfect place when you need an escape from the manicotti and mandolin music for a night.


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